This Wednesday, Nicaragua’s National Assembly approved an initiative that would allow Daniel Ortega’s government to run the Nicaraguan Red Cross Society.

The Sandinista deputies and allies accused the international organization of acting against its principles in the context of the anti-government demonstrations that broke out five years ago, leaving hundreds dead and the country’s president, Daniel Ortega, resigning.

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“In the acts that took place in 2018 that threatened the peace and stability of the nation, some affiliated members of that association (Nicaraguan Red Cross) acted against these principles” of humanity, impartiality and neutrality” and of its constitution and statutes”, the Sandinista delegates pointed out in the explanatory statement.

Now the entity will be managed by the Ministry of Health.

Founded in 1958, the Nicaraguan Red Cross was an autonomous, decentralized entity, with legal personality, own assets, indefinite duration and full capacity to acquire rights and contractual obligations, which will be the legal successor without resolution of continuity of the Nicaraguan Red Cross Association .

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The law mandates that “all assets, assets and shares to date belonging to the National Association, called the Nicaraguan Red Cross, shall become state property and administered by the Nicaraguan Red Cross, a decentralized entity associated to the Ministry of Health.”

So far, the Nicaraguan Red Cross, which is governed by the principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and has buildings, properties and vehicles in Nicaragua’s various municipalities, has not ruled on that law.

Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, exacerbated by the controversial general election of November 7, 2021, in which Ortega was re-elected to a fifth term, fourth in a row, and second with his wife Rosario Murillo as deputy president, with her main contenders in prison.